[Crazy-Fish]

So, History. 3 questions, please could everyone give their own answers. . .

1) Do you think History is cold and impersonal on things like casualties in a war? e.g., we learn 20,000 people died on the first day of the Somme. But when you go out there and look round Tyne Cot, it's clear that that was a huge number, as Tyne cot, even though it is massive doesn't have that number of people. We don't learn what it was like for the people left behind, the mothers and the wives I'd be interested in your opinion on this.

2) Do you think that we should study things like the Egyptians and ancient civilisations? I for one, would be much more interested in that than in endless notes on various techniques used in battles.

And finally. . .

3) (sorry for those who don't do GCSE) Should the coursework allow for more help? It would, in my opinion, decrease the amount of stress put on candidates, due to having someone else pointing out little mistakes and being reassuring.

Please answer, it would be interesting to know.

Oh (for those who have been on a battlefields tour), which WW1 French/Belgian cemetery did people find the most moving/interesting? (Including the Allies and Germans.)

Thankyou!

[MrJohnDClare]

Great questions, Crazy Fish - I hope you get some answers.

[Air Dan]

I think that teachers can sometimes avoid the really interesting facts our to students because they fear that they may be "disturbed" by things that happened in the past. I generally find that reading a Horrible History book can be more interesting and sometimes even more informative than a normal History lesson, but that's just my opinion.

~Air Dan~

[boberz]

Coursework should be banned untill a really high level i.e. degree dissetations etc.. It justs degrades the grades you achieve through hard work with everyone else getting the same through a proxy website and a rougue teacher. History is too personal in places, e.g. focus on Hitlers charisma, he didnt visit every German and personally conver them. There is not enough evidence to be anylitical of ancient civilisations, without really expensive field trips etc.. it doesnt lend itself to study.

[WatTyler]

Crazy-Fish, on Nov 24 2008, 08:39 PM, said:

So, History. 3 questions, please could everyone give their own answers. . .

1) Do you think History is cold and impersonal on things like casualties in a war? e.g., we learn 20,000 people died on the first day of the Somme. But when you go out there and look round Tyne Cot, it's clear that that was a huge number, as Tyne cot, even though it is massive doesn't have that number of people. We don't learn what it was like for the people left behind, the mothers and the wives I'd be interested in your opinion on this.

Certainly. I think learning about casualties through text books and the like often leaves you far too detached from what you are studying. But it is still history when you are standing on the battlefields, taking the same path those soldiers took, or walking through the graveyards learning about various soldiers or when you are standing in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. The problem with dealing with statistics in books is that the millions remain the millions, completely out of reach. With me it always takes personal stories and actually being there to illuminate a few of the blurred millions and to understand, if only to a small extent, the suffering that people have been through.

I went to the battlefields a few years ago - I though the German graveyard was the most interesting especially in comparison to the others. It had a completely different atmosphere...and it was so small and dark. But I think standing where the somme was fought was the most moving experience. It was overwhelming, thinking that soldiers had taken the same path that I was taken but that they were faced with a wall of bullets...

[Crazy-Fish]

Have you been to Langemark?

[WatTyler]

Crazy-Fish, on Jan 4 2009, 09:20 PM, said:

Have you been to Langemark?

No I haven't, is that where a lot of German graves are?

[Crazy-Fish]

Yea. There are 24,000 in one grave, 8 in most other graves and more than 44,000 people in total. This is in an area about the same size as a football pitch. . . It is supposed to be haunted and the statues of the German comrades give a really ghostly feel.